ABC 1967-1968, A Very Special Season: Sunday

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This is a promotional spot for ABC’s new Sunday night line-up for the 1967-1968 season, which featured Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The F.B.I., and The ABC Sunday Night Movie. The network used the slogan “A Very Special Season” and distinctive kaleidoscopic imagery to promote its new and returning programs. New programs included N.Y.P.D., Cowboy in Africa, Good Company, The Flying Nun, Off To See the Wizard and Judd, for the Defense. Due to Labor Day, ABC kicked off its premiere week on Tuesday, September 5th.


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5 Replies to “ABC 1967-1968, A Very Special Season: Sunday”

  1. This was the network’s most successful night of programming for almost a decade. From the fall of 1965 on, everything seemed to click with “VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA” at 7pm(et), followed by “THE FBI” at 8, then “THE SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE” at 9. However, “VOYAGE” [Irwin Allen’s first successful TV series] began to falter in the 1967-’68 season, and was replaced by “LAND OF THE GIANTS” in September 1968. When that ended aburptly after two seasons, Screen Gems/Columbia’s “THE YOUNG REBELS” replaced it in the fall of ’70. By mid-season, that was gone, and ABC gave the 7-8pm hour back to its affiliates (in anticipation of the FCC’s “Prime-Time Access Rule”, which took effect in September 1971). For the most part, “THE FBI” and “THE ABC SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE” was their Sunday night schedule, until the former ended in 1974.

  2. “However, “VOYAGE” [Irwin Allen’s first successful TV series] began to falter in the 1967-’68 season, and was replaced by “LAND OF THE GIANTS” in September 1968.”

    …Bit of a correction here: The ratings on Voyage didn’t drop -that- significantly during its fourth season. What happened was that even though ABC renewed Voyage, Irwin Allen proposed to ABC to instead replace the show with Giants for two reasons: 1) He really had what can best be described as a “hard-on” for doing a show centered on all the special prop effects, as he was an avid fan of the work done on King Kong, and 2) Both Richard Basehart and David Hedison’s contracts were up for renewal, and both had pre-negotiated agreements for a significant pay hike should the series get renewed for a fifth season. Combine this with ABC mumblings about dropping the “Color Incentive Bonus” for shows that had made the transition from B&W to Color and succeeded in being renewed, and by all accounts – especially one by Hedison in 2001 – Irwin simply decided to be cheap and start all over with a new show and a new concept that was essentially a rehashing of Lost in Space.

    …In retrospect, the better choice would have been to stick with Voyage, as it became very obvious by the end of the 1st season of Giants that it was a One Trick Pony that had already been rode around the corral. In fact, to this day, the 1st year of Voyage still stands out as some of the best Cold War melodrama, and holds up where the entire run of Giants, with the exception of a few episodes, comes across as a big joke. Not as big as The Man From The 25th Century would have been had it sold, but a joke nevertheless.

  3. Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and The F.B.I. were against Walt Disney’s Wonderful World Of Color and The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights in the 1967-68 Very Special Season. Cheers to Disney/Buena Vista for another season (the first after Walt’s passing). And more cheers to SOFA Entertainment for showcasing the Sullivan intros to top-rated variety.

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